How Do I Forgive?

Recently, a lady asked me, “How can I forgive?” What a great question! I could see in her eyes that she had very specific people in mind, people who had hurt her so much or so often that it seemed impossible to forgive them. I bet you can think of people like that too. How can I forgive? Could you answer her? I hope so! Like any good work, she can’t produce forgiveness on her own. She can’t look in her heart or try harder. You’ve tried that. It doesn’t work!

What does she need to be able to forgive? Jesus. More Jesus. The Bible encourages us, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). Forgiveness comes from Jesus. How can she forgive? She needs to hear Jesus says to her, “I forgive you” over and over again. She needs to hear that as far as the east is from the west, God has removed our sins from us. How can you forgive? You need more time with Jesus. I need more time with Jesus. We need to have Jesus and his cross preached to our hearts again and again and again, until our hearts our so full with Jesus’ grace that we can say to others what Jesus says to us: “I forgive you!”